When coffee, tea, and other drinks commonly sold and dispensed in disposable paper cups are carried, in many instances the temperature of the contents of the cup is such as to create discomfort in the hands and fingers of the holder.
To combat this problem, convenience stores and fast food retail outlets often "double cup" coffee and other hot drinks. Another approach employed by some manufacturers of hot drink cups is to provide an integral band of synthetic material which is foamed in the manufacturing process to provide an insulative layer. Both of these approaches tend to be expensive.
More recently, a number of persons have designed and provided disposable sleeves which slip over the outside surface of a drink cup to provide insulation between the contents of the cup and the hands and fingers of the holder. These sleeves take numerous forms and are made of paper. One characteristic common to most or all of these sleeves is the fact that they are opaque and, for this reason, obscure the trade dress and ornamental designs which the manufacturers of the hot drink cups take pains to provide.